Looking back, has there ever been a bigger or better summer of sport than the one we’ve just had? Kicking off big time with the Euros then continuing apace with the cricket world cup, Wimbledon, the Paris Olympics and finally the Paralympic Games, for big-ticket sports fans summer 2024 was one for the books.
And that mega line-up of sporting events has seen millions of spectators embrace a closely related travel trend: sports-tripping. Whether it was legions of choreographed Dutch fans swarming streets in Germany at the Euros or raucous multinational support for athletics at Paris’s Stade de France, travelling sports fans have been front and centre of the summer’s events.
This year sports-tripping took off in a big way – even if you didn’t jet off to Berlin for the Euros final or pop over the Channel to the Olympics and Paralympics, chances are you know someone that did. And the data backs that up. According to Booking.com, demand for accommodation in Paris increased over the Olympic period by 165 percent for couples and 98 percent for solo travellers. In Berlin, during the final of the Euros, accommodation searches increased by a whopping 43,000 percent. Forty-three thousand.
That surge in demand wasn’t limited to one-off tournaments and events, either. The final of Wimbledon 2024, for instance, saw searches for accom in Wimbledon itself rocket by 157 percent compared to the same period last year, while neighbouring areas Fulham and New Malden also saw higher demand. According to eDreams ODIGEO’s Year in Travel report, sports tourism was responsible for 10 percent of global tourism in 2024.
In 2025, the trend shows no sign of slowing down – according to SkyScanner, nearly a third of 25-to-35-year-olds are planning trips around sports events next year. So, why has sports tourism taken off so wildly, and what’s the appeal?
What is sports-tripping?
Sports-tripping (or sportourism, if you will) is pretty much what it says on the tin: tourism tied to sporting events. While it can apply to actually taking part in sports – like travelling for competitions such as marathons – it also refers to spectators travelling for events.
Front and centre, a clear reason 2024 has been such a huge year for sports-tripping is because it’s been a huge year for sport, full stop. Several big-ticket events have joined the usual roster of annual tournaments, offering wall-to-wall entertainment for all kinds of fans.
But the Olympics and Euros collide every four years – why so much hype in 2024? Crucial to this year’s Euros, Olympics and Paralympics is that they’ve been held in places that are, by and large, accessible and (comparatively) affordable for fans – particularly those in Europe. Compared to the last two Olympics in Tokyo and Rio de Janeiro, and in contrast with recent major football events in Qatar and Russia, attending this summer’s tournaments has involved visiting familiar, comfortable, well-connected places that aren’t massively expensive to get to.
Sure, the pandemic hampered some of the prior events’ crowd sizes (and may well have boosted the popularity of this year’s post-pandemic competitions), but there’s no denying that the locations of France and Germany, both at the heart of Europe with countless affordable rail and flight connections, have led to greater willingness to travel. In other words, events and locations aligned for a summer ripe for sports-tripping.
The new gig-tripping
While sports-tripping may have been in the spotlight this summer, the phenomenon isn’t new. In fact, one study reckons that sports tourism dates all the way back to at least Ancient Greece, when spectators would travel to watch the Olympic Games. Another study says that sports and tourism have been ‘intertwined’ since modern incarnations of both emerged in the 1800s.
2024 has just been a bigger year than most for travelling for sport. The appeal for doing so might seem obvious, but let’s lay out a few of the many reasons you might want to travel as a sporting spectator.
The most obvious draw to sports-tripping as a spectator is that it combines two of life’s greatest things: watching and soaking up all the atmosphere and excitement of spectator sport, and the wonder and intrigue of travel.
Sports-tripping combines two of life’s greatest things: soaking up the excitement of spectator sport and the wonder of travel
Travelling for sports shares the appeal of gig-tripping in that it gives you that kick up the backside to actually get out there and travel, while combining that trip with a big event. In fact, ‘event-cations’ are one of the biggest trends driving tourism in recent years, according to The Tour Guy.
Unlike gig-tripping, however, huge sporting events enable travellers to experience a familiar destination in a new light – and to see a place at its most patriotic. Take Paris during this summer’s Olympics and Paralympics. Anyone who ventured to the French capital this summer will have noticed that the city had extra sheen, its citizens were chirpier and Olympic (and Paralympic) fever was palpable in the atmosphere and mood of the City of Light. Events even took place at or in the shadow of Paris’ most majestic landmarks – it felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore the city.
Exploring the unfamiliar
Travelling for an event – particularly a sporting event, where a match or race is a one-time-only occurrence – means a reversal of the destination-first travel booking process: you go where the event is, which could lead you to a place you might not’ve previously considered visiting.
Take Stuttgart, for example. The capital of the German state of Baden-Wurttemberg, Stuttgart certainly has some tourist appeal – best known for its car museums (it’s the ‘cradle of the automobile’, after all) and historic Schwaben palaces – but it wouldn’t ordinarily be on most travellers’ radar. Put plainly, from Berlin and Munich to Cologne and Hamburg, there are at least half a dozen other German cities higher on most travellers’ bucket lists.
Add this summer’s UEFA European Championship to the equation, however, and everything changes. I visited the city for the Euro 2024 quarter-final this summer, Germany vs Spain, at its MHPArena. It was so easy to get swept up in the fiery atmosphere of watching Germany on home turf, experiencing a different, more inclusive and positive football culture, and getting stuck-in amongst the city’s football shirt-filled streets buzzing with chanting and drinking. I’d love to have celebrated on those streets, too… alas, the locals lost.
Beyond football, I found that Stuttgart’s the perfect example of somewhere you might not think to go to but, given the opportunity, really shines. Within a few days centred around the match, I learned that the city was the birthplace of sports car manufacturer Porsche and legendary philosopher Hegel. I was taken by the city’s marvellously lush greenery, pretty palaces and rich, critically celebrated food scene.
Would I recommend Stuttgart as a tourist destination? Honestly, Germany has many more interesting places. But as a sports-tripping destination, with its two major arenas and pedigree in football, handball, ice hockey, volleyball and much more, it’s entirely worth booking a trip around.
2025 and beyond
While this summer was a particularly monumental one for sport, sports tourism is only getting more popular. According to eDreams ODIGEO’s Year in Travel report, searches for destinations with major sports events next year are already spiking. The Women’s Rugby World Cup in the UK has encouraged global searches for travel to tournament cities to rise by 74 percent year-on-year, while searches for travel to Harbin, China, during the Asian Winter Games have risen by a whopping 245 percent year-on-year.
And it’s not only tournaments and games people will be travelling for next year. Only a few months after the UEFA final this summer, footie legend Eric Cantona launched a series of football-themed city breaks, bookable up to May 2025. On them, a small group of football-obsessed travellers will be accompanied by legendary players including Nuno Gomes, Javier Zanetti and Cantona himself.
Fast forward three years and there’s Euro 2028, which is taking place across England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, while the Olympics and Paralympics will come around the same year. Will it all be even bigger and better in four years’ time, at the next sporting equivalent of a super blue moon? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Ed travelled to Stuttgart as a guest with booking.com. Our reviews and recommendations have been editorially independent since 1968. For more, see our editorial guidelines.
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